Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

But do not use the bill as an excuse to belt up the Labor Party and then limp-wristedly say, ‘Oh, yeah, and by the way, we support the bill before the House.’ I did not hear one thing in the short time I was in the chamber against the bill itself. The bill was used as an excuse to rail and to make political diatribes. I do not want a lecture from the member opposite about my ability to respond to what I heard in this chamber. That is what got me riled up. Yes, I came here with a prepared speech, which my staff worked on. But what worked me up was the garbage I heard from the previous speaker and I was not going to allow it to go unremarked.

The minister did visit my electorate prior to the election and 80 veterans and people with an interest in veterans affairs came along. They took questions and he spent considerable time with them and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. The thing I liked about him was that he did not mislead them. Where he would not be able to deliver, he did not mislead them. He basically said, ‘That’s going to be a hard one.’ I think part of the problem at times is that we tend not to give the honest responses to some of the questions that we are asked and people are misled into thinking there is a chance for some of the benefits they are seeking.

I have enormous confidence in the minister. Today we are debating a bill that to some extent came from those community consultations. The issues in this bill were raised in the community consultations. As I said earlier, it is not all that needs to be done; it is just a start. This is the first instalment. Labor has already delivered on its promise that resulted in the amendment of the social security law, the Veterans’ Entitlement Act 1986 and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, to give increased and more timely financial support to older Australians and to people with a disability, to carers and to veterans. The Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs introduced this legislation on 14 February this year, and eligible pensioners will have been receiving those payments from 20 March. For the first time, veterans and their partners receiving the invalidity service pension, partner service pension or an income support supplement will also receive the allowance. In addition, an increased rate of telephone allowance from $88 a year to $132 a year will be available to around one million veterans. In increasing the annual utilities allowance from $107.20 to $500, to be paid in quarterly payments, to match the utilities bill cycle, Labor is ensuring that people will have funds to assist them in payment of those regular bills. This bill includes several measures that were part of Labor’s 2007 election commitments. Labor have always had a genuine commitment to our veterans and that will continue.

As I said, Labor is fulfilling its election promises and this bill is part of that process. There are three key measures the bill introduces, and these will make life a little easier for some of our veterans and their families. First, the bill will extend the income support supplement to war widows and widowers under qualifying age. In the past, this was available when a veteran reached qualifying age—for men it was 60 years and for women it was 58½—or if they had a dependent child or if they were permanently incapacitated and prevented from working. Under this legislation, the eligibility for the income support supplement will extend to a person who is a war widow or widower, who has not reached qualifying age and who has no dependent children. In effect, the current eligibility criteria will become redundant. The net effect of the measure will directly impact on approximately 1,400 war widows or war widowers. I repeat: 1,400. Second, the bill extends disability pension bereavement payments. Currently a widow or widower on certain disability rates receives a bereavement payment equal to 12 weeks of disability pension on the death of a veteran. The new measure will extend the 12 weeks disability pension bereavement payment to the estate of single veterans or members in receipt of a special rate disability pension or the extreme disablement adjustment disability pension if they have died in reduced circumstances. With the extension of this measure, the veteran’s estate will have time to adjust to his or her changed financial circumstances and to defray any costs associated with the death of a veteran. This payment is in addition to a funeral benefit, which is also payable to indigent veterans or members and is a contribution towards funeral costs.

The third measure contained in the bill extends the automatic grant of war widow or war widower pensions. Under the current act, this was granted under circumstances where the veteran was in receipt of specific pension entitlements. The grant of a war widow or war widower pension will now be extended to include those partners of a veteran or member who immediately before his or her death was in receipt of intermediate late disability or temporary special rate disability pension. These measures will go toward fulfilling our obligation as a government and as a community to our veterans. I know that those opposite acknowledge that these are benefits. That is what is actually before us, and that is what riled me a little bit earlier. I did not appreciate coming in and just hearing a political diatribe. Let us deal with each bill on its merits. If it is beneficial, so be it. If there is detriment then, yes, get up and have a go at the bill.

Madam Deputy Speaker Vale, you of all people would know how difficult this area is from when you were in government. It is difficult for whoever is in office, but at the end of the day what I have always been about and what my office has always been about, because of the nature of my community, is to do whatever we can for our veterans community. The veterans kit that we produced has been without peer for the last 15 to 18 years in parliament. Indeed, it was picked up by organisations and used as the model. As I said, I know that there is genuine support on the other side. It seems to me that what whoever is in government should be doing is marshalling those resources in a bipartisan fashion to try to change government policy to the benefit of our veterans. I am not standing up here trying to claim a moral superiority in this regard; I do not. But I know about advocacy and I know how to get results. As I said earlier, history will end up showing this minister to be one of the best veterans’ affairs ministers. He has not taken a backward step in the short time he has been there, nor did he as shadow minister. He has tried to work out every way he can to advance veterans causes in an honest way, in a compassionate way, and he has tried to do it in a bipartisan way. I know that the shadow minister who is his opposite is also genuine in that regard.

As indicated in the Bills Digest for this bill prepared by the library, in the past the automatic granting of the war widows pension was considered appropriate only for what was effectively a significant physical disability. This has tended to exclude those who suffer from psychiatric disability or other types of physical disabilities. The Bills Digest commented that this is an old-fashioned idea. This initiative of the Australian government means that many widows or widowers will not have to apply for the benefit in a protracted manner. In the past, the process has often been contentious and lengthy. This is a very positive move forward in recognising the care and support provided by those who were the partners of veterans with significant disabilities. In my electorate there were 3,236 net beneficiaries of Department of Veterans’ Affairs pensions and treatment cardholders as at 28 September 2007. Sadly, this number dropped over the previous three months to 3,165 total net beneficiaries as at 6 July 2007. This bill is just one in a long line of Labor legislation that will be introducing social security advances in Australia.

It is a benchmark of Labor governments that care and support is provided to those who need it. In 1901 the Constitution gave power to the Commonwealth to legislate for invalid and old age pensioners. A review was conducted during 1905 and 1906 and legislation for both was passed in 1908. Finetuning was then provided by the Fisher Labor government during 1909-10, and this ensured that the old age pension was payable to people who were aged 65 and over or who were aged 60 years and over and were permanently incapacitated for work, and it extended to women over 60 years of age. Subsequent refinements and innovations were provided to age pensions, disability pensions and carers by the Scullin, Curtin, Chifley, Whitlam, Hawke and Keating governments and, in all fairness, I should mention the updates under the Lyons, Menzies, Holt, Gorton, Fraser and Howard governments. So, in the area of veterans entitlements, Labor has a proud record since Federation and that is why I took exception to the attacks on the Labor Party from those opposite. At the end of the day—(Time expired)

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